5 World Trade Center originally housed the Deutsche Bank building, which was designed by Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon and demolished in 2011 due to damage sustained on 9/11. Governor Kathy Hochul announced last week that the site will now include 1,200 housing units. The mixed-use project has finally received approval from the state’s Public Authorities Control Board, allowing the project to move forward. This development will mark the only residential building in the World Trade Center complex.
The site has been a long-standing target for affordable housing advocates, some of whom had pushed for the construction of a fully affordable building. However, this will not be possible due to the current political landscape in New York.
The approved project is a large tower made of glass and metal curtain-walled, designed to fit into the Financial District. It will provide 400 permanent low- and middle-income housing units, with 80 units reserved for individuals who were living and working in Lower Manhattan during the 9/11 attacks and the immediate aftermath, as stated by the Governor’s office. The affordable sections will have units ranging from 40 to 120 percent of the area’s median income. The podium will allocate 930 square meters (10,000 square feet) for the nonprofit organization Educational Alliance, and 17,650 square meters (190,000 square feet) for retail and office space.
Read more about this story at Archpaper.